UC Berkeley Web Feature

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For
Jessica Dell, an ardent follower of electoral politics
and an aspiring broadcast journalist, a little piece
of heaven would be a fast-paced tour of duty in a
major political-news operation. Her spring semester
proved to be celestial.

Selected to take part in the
UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC), the Berkeley
junior landed a four-month internship with CNN's
political unit — in
the shadow of the nation's capitol, no less. Working
in the political-news unit, she spent her days doing
background research, locating archived footage, transcribing
interviews, and getting a close-up look at '08 presidential
hopefuls in action in the D.C. area.

On
leaving UCDC: 'I'm
excited to go back and see my family and friends.
But my heart will hurt a little.'

- Jessica
Dell (with fellow CNN intern Sparsha Saha

(Joanne Connelly photos)

"You thrive off the adrenaline," Dell
says of the TV-news production environment. Now,
she adds, "I'm
really up on the campaigns and the candidates and
the political stories of the day."

A 'totally different' setting

Berkeley's UCDC program offers students a chance
to work inside the Washington Beltway — mostly
in volunteer internships, though in edifying
and sometimes exciting government, non-profit, and
corporate organizations — and attend for-credit
classes (a required research seminar plus one elective)
taught by University of California faculty, in the
evenings.

"For most of these students, this is most difficult
thing ever done in their undergrad career," says
political science professor Michael Goldstein, who
heads the program and teaches its research seminar.
Headquartered in the University of California's state-of-the-art
facility 11 blocks from the White House, near Dupont
Circle, "the setting is totally different" from
the Berkeley campus, he notes, and "requires
different skills to achieve." Such as navigating
a bureaucracy in order to move into a coveted assignment.
Or writing a major research paper — the centerpiece
of students' academic experience in D.C. — while
holding down a day job. Back at Berkeley, he notes,
it's possible to pull an end-of-semester all-nighter
(or two) and finish out a semester. "You can't
do that here," he says. "You have to be
at work in the morning."

Internships in the 'rough and tumble'

For
third-year student Christina Zaldaña,
that meant taking the Metro from the UC center (where
students live together in suites, as do students from
other campuses) to the Latin American Youth Center,
a community organization in D.C.'s Columbia Heights
neighborhood.

On her internship at D.C.'s Latin American Youth
Center: 'I knew I wanted to do something about
youth, about the resources that are available
to them.'

- Christina Zaldaña

A sociology and mass communications
double-major whose parents came to the U.S. from
El Salvador, Zaldaña thrived on her interaction
with young Salvadorans and Latino youth from many
other countries. Through her internship, she helped
lead two after-school programs and researched local
youths' perspectives on the gentrification that is
rapidly transforming the area.

"If your neighborhood is changing around you,
how does that affect your sense of efficacy and self
worth?" Zaldaña asks. Seldom, she notes,
do researchers solicit young people's views on this
issue.

Other UCDC students seek placements on Capitol Hill
and in policy think tanks and federal agencies in
the D.C. area. This semester political-science major
Alan Donner interned with the White House's Domestic
Policy Council; Akash Suri, poli sci and Southeast
Asia studies double major, in the State Department;
economics major Erica Yung at the Department of Treasury;
Bianca Yip with the Smithsonian Institution.

Cal senior Sparsha Saha, like Dell, was "thrown
into the tumble" of CNN — interning with
the network's weekday newscast, "The Situation
Room" — and declares it "the best
thing I've done so far in my life." A political
science and French double major, Saha mined this
experience to create, in her academic research, a
model for understanding the media's influence on
U.S. government foreign-policy decisions. "With
respect to humanitarian issues, I found that money"
— both U.S. foreign aid and non-governmental humanitarian
donations — "really does follow coverage," she
says.

Having a fellow Cal student, in Dell, with whom
to share her Metro ride and her "CNN obsession" was
not shabby either. The two became "instant friends," sometimes
even speaking in one voice of their media experience.

"Both
of us," says Saha, "think that the CNN
internship is one of the most hectic, demanding,
and fast-paced internships out there — and
we just love it!"

Easing the transition to the work world

A political science and French double-major, Saha
hopes to go to law school and possibly, at a future
date, do work related to the media. Dell, for her
part, plans to make a beeline, after Berkeley, for
an entry-level job in broadcast television, though
she's reset her sights on a production role, rather
than one in front of the cameras.

There's an excellent chance the "CNN" on
her resume will help pave the way — as D.C.
internships have for other program participants before
her.

Advice to current UCDC students: Even if you
don't agree with the politics of your internship, remember that 'you can leave a job, but not the people.'

-
UCDC alumnus Ben Kramer

Ben Kramer '04 majored at Berkeley in international
relations and Arabic.

While at the UC Washington
Center, he interned at a non-profit think tank. After
graduation, Kramer circulated his resume to a select
group of legislators on the Hill, landing a staff
position in the office of Congressman Joe Sestak
(D-Pa.).

After a study-abroad stint in Geneva piqued her
interest in human-rights work, Kelly Nilsson extended
her UC Berkeley career by a semester, hoping an internship
with a major D.C.-based human-rights organization
would lead to a paying job in the field.

'While interning at Amnesty International, 'I
was handed case files from people who were
seeking asylum in the U.S.... Many times,
our research was the only support
the person had in their immigration trial.''

- UCDC alumna Kelly Nilsson

The gamble
paid off: Nilsson found a rewarding UCDC internship
at Amnesty International — reviewing
foreign nationals' appeals for amnesty status.
Many "were currently being held
in detention; most had no money and very limited
English knowledge. I would review their claims
and perform detailed research into the conditions
in their home countries," she recalls. After
graduation, she landed a paid staff
position at Amnesty, supporting members
and activists in the organization's Mid-Atlantic
region, based in D.C.

Thanks to UC Berkeley's positive reputation and
UCDC's long-term relationships with Washington-area
organizations (it has now been in the capital for
11 years, its director for nearly 30), the program
has leads on a wealth of outstanding internships
for students to consider, Goldstein says. Students
compete for admission to the program. As the political
scene heats up, so does interest in being close
to the action in D.C.

With the 2008 presidential campaign already in
sway, he expects to have "lots of applicants
for the coming year."